


First Expidition to a New Universe! with Stretch

by JellyFicsnFucks



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2019-11-15 08:32:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18070064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JellyFicsnFucks/pseuds/JellyFicsnFucks
Summary: Underswap Papyrus finished his machine and goes to explore a new Universe~ but he didn't prepare at all to go to Underfell.





	1. Chapter 1

Stretch was utterly surprised when he opened the rusted hatch door and it fell in on itself. Wherever this was, it was different. That's for sure. He sniffed the air and immediately reeled as the sour odor of mold filled his nostrils. He pushed back against his chair and grabbed to door frame to pull himself up and out of the massive metal death trap. Then he sets his eye aglow to looks around the dark. 

This was a storage room, just like the one in their own house but abandoned by time. The machine was in disarray, and parts layed dismantled on the floor and tables. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling and dust bunnies coated the floor. On the side wall there were blueprints left unfinished and everything else had been pushed aside, to make room for storage boxes and old gym equipment. 

Stretch tiptoed around the junk and pulled open the back door. Excited about the prospect of his experiment working, he eagerly looked for the differences between his own world and this one. 

Snowdin was still covered in snow.  _ Check. _ That wasn't so weird. The pine trees in the forest look kinda bare…not like the leaves had fallen but maybe the trees had just died or charred up in a fire.  _ Odd.  _

He waddled through the snow and ascended the front steps to his own house, knocking politely to meet the residents here. 

There was a scuffle inside and the stomping feet coming up and down the hall fills his ears. Then the grunts of a small struggle to look at the tiny peep hole in the door. Papyrus giggled in his throat. When his own brother had guests he would stack a chair up to the door so he could see through the hole. A Sans here was probably just as adorable as his little bro. Maybe the two could be playmates!

The door opens wide with a copy of his little Sans all grown up. Taller, a bit chubby, and with blazing red magic in his pin pricks of eyes. Guess he gave up the stars to adopt a more mature look. It looked good on him, though it made his shallow eyes look even more wide and innocent. He wore a red turtleneck and black jeans that were rolled up so he wouldn’t trip. 

_ Different… _ but the same adorable Sans. 

“B.. Boss? I didn't expect you back so soon!... What's with the lame clothes?”

Shamefully, Stretch took in the appearance of his own clothes. He just wore the same sweater he wore yesterday… Smelled like fishsticks and custard. Smears of oil lined the outer pockets and his own hands from tinkering with the machine. It wasn't exactly traveler attire, maybe he should have brought a bow tie. 

“Actually buddy, Im a Time Traveler~  _ WooOooOo _ .”

The door slammed in his face. 

“Wait Sans! I was joking!!!” Stretch rapped on the door again. “I’m Papyrus! A different Papyrus! From a different universe!! Its cold!!! Please let me inside!”

And from the other side of the door came a shout back. “I’m calling the cops!”

“No! ..No! Sans!!! It's me! You can trust your big universal bro~ I just want to document this world!! Please let me interview you? I’ll be real quick!! Your coming back right? Sans? SAns?! Wait! I’m a big nerd! There! I said it!! Please open the door! Please lil red bro~ broski? Brah?”

Red rolled his eyes and relocked the door, letting the heavy chains answer in his stead. This was by far the worst assassination attempt. “Whoever told you Boss acts that way was trying to get a laugh and get rid of you, pal. Go back before my Bro comes home and wastes you.”

Sans’s ebony fingers hover over the phone on the wall. Boss hated being called from guard duty… especially if it was a false alarm. And by the time Paps got here the monster could decide to disappear. 

_ Or he might decide to break in... _

Sans tut his teeth together and clasped the phone firmly in two hands. Better safe than sorry. He dialed a number for the guard and hoped the message would reach Boss in time.

“Woah…” A muffled whistle burned against the core of his nerves. Red slowly turned around in disbelief to see that odd skeleton fellow tapping at the window. “That thing is ancient! Don't you have cell phones or something? Nyeh Heh, maybe I really did time travel. “

Sans blinked. _ Why was this idiot still here?! _ He placed down the phone and crossed the living room, stopping right in front of the window. Then swiftly closed the shades. 

Out of sight. Out of mind. 

“Sansss~?” Yet the loud voice continued to press against the glass. “SANS?! DONT IGNORE ME… PLEASE? I’m not suspicious!”

Sans threw open the curtains. “You  _ ARE  _ suspicious!!! Get out of here freak! I called the guard already! Go away!!”

“Pfft. You really think Alphys is gonna arrest me? Besides, this is my first universe hop. Gimme a tour.”

“DO I LOOK LIKE A -” Sans paused, taking a deep breath through his nasal cavity and echaled it through his mouth. Keeping a steady mind was important. He couldn’t let this monster tilt him and get an advantage. He looked straight at the Papyrus clone. He was traveling alone. One set of footprints behind him meant that he was on a stupid suicide mission for a joke. 

The bone structure was similar enough so that this monster did look an  _ awful  _ lot like Boss. He thought at first it had been another shapeshifter, obviously missing a few details like Boss’s sharpened teeth and the crack on the right side of his eye, but the more this giddy bastard talked the more Sans was starting to believe maybe the asshole before him was telling the truth. Or plain stupid. 

“Okay pal, lets say… I believe you. Hypothetically.”

Stretch nodded his head like a happy puppy, leaning on the window sill outside he begged for attention. 

“Let's say you came here in some wibbly wobbly timey wimey… thing for travelling possible worlds.”

Stretch nodded

“Okay, so get back in your time machine and go back to your stinking place! I’m still not letting you inside. Don’t you have some other chumps to bother?”

“Pffft~ Sansy don't be such a spoilsport. I just wanna look for anomalies and check for spatial differentiations in this environment. You wouldn’t get it… Listen! I just want to do some sciency stuff! And, of course, I want to interview the great and magnificent Sans!”

Sans wasn’t having it. “Okay...you were a bother before but now you're just scaring me.”

“I’m cold..  _ Pwew pwew _ . Open up the door for your big bro! “

“...this literally is the worst trap ever.” Sans kneels by the window. “You'll have to try harder if you want to kill me ‘n boss. “

“i'm not trying to kill you. I just want an interview. Like… Why are your eyes red and why do you call your Papyrus ‘Boss’ and stuff. And why do you guys still use rotary phones nyeheheh.”

“ugh.. You laugh like him but it's way too…  _ Happy _ . It's down right sickening. Why don't you work on your impression first shithead. “

“SANS!  _ LANGUAGE _ !”

“Stars… what century did you crawl out from? Did i offend ya, honey?” Sans laughed, the silhouette of his brother was already crossing the bridge. He got here faster than Sans expected. Sans smiled warmly, thinking of how Boss had rushed down here for him. “Heh..oh well, playtime's over.” Sans stood up and stretched both his arms behind his head. “It was fun Mr. Assassin, but your gonna die now. Bye bye.” He waved each of his fingers individually. 

“Bye.. bye? “ Stretch responded automatically and awkwardly waved goodbye from the two feet they were separated by the window. It was only after their exchange had ended that Stretch started replaying the words back in his head… “Wait!!! Did you say d-?! ”

**_“DIE.”_ **

Fell shouted as he swung a solid red bone attack at the duplicate. Stretch just barely had enough time to react. Due to the sudden battle cry, any chance of a sneak attack was gone. The bone instead crashed through the living room window and shards of glass were strewn inside. Followed by a string of curses. 

“ SHIT! YOU COULD HAVE FUCKING KILLED ME YOU ASSHOLE! “

The crisp clear voice of Reds was heard loudly now, but Stretch was too afraid to look away. Right now a monster had openly just attacked him!  _ What was he a psychopath?!  _

“SHUT UP! NEESAN IS WORKING!”

“NEESAN?! YOUR NOT WORKING… YOUR WATCHING MANGOS WITH UNDYNE!”

“IT’S NOT A MANGO ITS ANIME! “

“TOMATO TO-MA-TOE, WASTE THIS CREEP ALREADY! “

All eyes were focused on Stretch now… And his pathetic attempt to crawl away from this chaos. Sensing the tension, he stopped in his tracks- sinking down into the snow on all fours. 

“Actually please dont ‘ waste’ anyone okay?” His plead was a little off putting while they were facing his behind. He wriggled from the snow plough but only fell in deeper, the chizzle of fresh ice housing fallen snow scraped against his bones. It left a chill worse than the few scratches he’d gotten. “I'm actually Papyrus. A version of ‘Papyrus’  _ -obviously-  _ not this world's Papyrus.. I just want to talk. I'm not a threat or anything! Look 1 hp! “

Sans peered. “Well, fuck. He's not lying.”

“Good...” Fell smirked evilly. “...free exp”

He hit him over the head with the back of his heel and watched as the monster careened forward. Collapsing head first into the snow bank. Long red leather gloves reached for him and shrugged the unconscious skeleton over his shoulder. 

“Sans~?” Papyrus was almost disappointed with the lack of battle, but the spoils of war were sweet. He faced his brother from the shattered window, waiting for the lazy bones to stand at attention. 

“Y..Yes Boss?”

“Prepare the dungeon!” ~*~*~*~  


When Stretch woke up with a headache pulsing at the base of his skull and a weight pressed on his chest- It wasn’t unusual. Normally, when he’d get drunk, he would drop to the sofa as soon as he got home and for some reason that annoying dog would get drawn to the smell and use him like a pillow. In the back of his throat, he whined for “Saaaans~ you said you would take care of the dog…” No reply. Stretch groaned, his skull was pounding and he could care less for the mutt. He shoved the dog to the floor and rolled over.   
  
“Fuckn hell!”   
  
That made his eyes snap open wide. Dogs couldn’t talk! And ~ Sans never cursed! Stretch sat up and rubbed at his eyes. “Sans? What happened? Are you oka- … ”  
  
His orange eyelights fall upon the shortest fell brother and suddenly his words are caught in his throat. He remembered having a weird and short experience meeting a different Sans… but he figured it was just a drunken dream.   
  
That's why his head hurt. … Or not? He reached a finger to the back of his skull, a sensitive bump had dented the back of his cranium. Just touching it with his fingertips sent a shock through his nerves and down his spine.  
  
The other Sans stares at him, slightly backing up just to be safe. He had no idea what this monster would do when he woke up… and Boss wasn’t here right now.   
  
“...Hi?” Stretch waves nervously, though they are only a foot away from each other. An odd smile starts forming on his face, growing and growing until a bout of laughter escapes from his mouth in a raspy gasp. “Stars! You’re real! It actually worked. I can’t believe this!!”   
  
He grabs the Sans’ reluctant and sweaty hands in excitement. “Thank you for letting me into your home! This is so great! I want to ask you everything! Is your magic naturally red? How did you crack your skull? Is that a real gold tooth? Golly, your teeth are so sharp! Is that how they grew in? Is it decorative? I remember your Papyrus had sharp teeth too! That’s amazing! Can I get an imprint of your teeth? Or a magic sample?! Oh, crud I forgot my tools… Its okay I have my cell! Can we take a picture? My bro is never going to believe this!!”  
  
This Sans isn’t as talkative as his brother. In fact, Stretch notices he’s a little more… shaky… and sweaty. His beady eyelights kind of flicker in and out of place- making his skull look hollow. Terrified, actually, like he’s seen a ghost.   
Though its low, a pitch escapes from his mouth- wordless and awkward. Like a word that was choked from his vocal chords. Papyrus is just about to ask what's wrong, when he looks down at himself and realizes he’s shirtless.   
  
His soul pulses in his chest- the orange color swirls with the obtrusive color of green. Someone was healing him. Was it this Sans? No wonder! That must have been the weight he felt earlier! “Gosh, were you healing me? Thank you~! I’m sorry I pushed you- are you hurt Sans? Let me check your-”  
  
“Iiiiiiiiieeeeeeee” Sans squeaks. Papyrus feels a small, helpless, tug from Sans to pull his hands back. Though the monster isn’t clearly vocalizing anything, Stretch gets the feeling that maybe he should stop touching the other.   
  
He gently lowers their hands and lets go of the sweaty boney fingers. After a moment of no movement- just a breathy whine of attempted words- Stretch raises a brow and looks around for assistance. But this doesn’t look like a house.   
  
In fact, it looks like the shed where they usually kept that annoying dog. But here, there were large wooden jail like bars that ran from the ceiling to the floor, it segmented the shed in two. There was a small electric heater in the corner of the room, keeping this place cozy and was a welcome accessory to an otherwise abandoned and dusty prison.   
  
Suddenly, the Sans jolts up from the floor. “BOOOSSSSSSS!!!!” He screams as he runs out the shed, leaving Stretch to stare dumbly at the empty space by the door. He left the ‘prison’ open but Stretch wasn’t really sure he wanted to leave, looked like company was coming to him. Besides. It was warm here. And -oh hey- his shirt and sweater were folded here. He slipped on his black shirt, but left the sweater for now, wrapping it around his waist.   
  
It looked like his stuff was gone from his pockets… but across the room they were lied out on a table. Like some sort of contraband meant to be kept away from prisoners. Heh. . .   
  
Stretch easily reclaimed his phone, a bit disappointed he couldn’t get a signal here but it wasn’t like his bro could respond across universes. He checked the time, noting he’d been sleeping (knocked out) for nearly 14 hours. His bro would definitely scold him when he got home~ shucks.  
  
Whelp he had a pack of cigarettes still… but his lighter was cracked and its shards line the table as if trying to reconstruct a puzzle. There’s a scrap of paper from Muffets he didn’t know he had kept, he visibly flinches when he saw how high the most recent bill is. When was this from- a month ago? All it says is IOU, written in Papyrus’s sloppy drunk scribbles. Apparently he had eighteen beers and a whole cheesecake?? Crud… he had to pay that back before Sans found out.   
  
Stretch hadn’t bothered going through his pants pockets for so long- just kept important stuff in his hoodie. The duct tape wallet his little brother made him was laid out on the table- stripped of all its contents. His photo ID, cash, and adorable pictures of Sans were lined side by side. The brothers here were probably curious, Stretch shrugged. He doesn’t bother to put his wallet back together. When they came back it would give him an excuse to talk about his cute lil bro.   
  
He takes a seat in the wooden chair by the table and wiggles back and forth, uncomfortably. One of the legs are shorter than the others. Stretch played with the chair, looking down at the rocking foot. Not much in this room could fix it… maybe if he had some cardboard he could wedge it in there…   
  
The shed door handle jiggles and Paps stops fiddling with the chair to give the front door his full undivided attention. First through the door is the taller, daunting, and incredibly handsome skeleton that was this worlds Papyrus. Stretch had to admit, they had the same devilishly charismatic face… but something about this copy seemed...suspicious? Like he was dressed like an evil villain ~ black and red motif over his body armor and a small cape that didn’t even come down his back. He looked like a vampire… especially with those pointed teeth.   
  
The Sans of this world he had already met, not officially, but he was taller than Stretch’s little brother and not at all as bubbly. He seemed withdrawn, shy, and scared. He’s the second to enter, holding tightly to the back loops of his brothers pants.   
  
“Hi there!” Stretch stands up and holds out his hands. He’s sort of expectant of a handshake or a hug and making himself available for both. After no movement from the brothers he coughs into his hand awkwardly and tries a different approach- considering how one of the brothers had attacked him earlier. “I think we got off on the wrong foot, friend. I’m Papyrus. - a different Papyrus… um. I’ve traveled across time and space to come here and I’d like to learn a bit about your world and document this experience. -I wasn’t trying to hurt you or Sans, though I guess, its a natural response to attack someone with your same face. But not to fear friend- for I am you- but not you.” He smiles triumphantly as if this explained anything.   
  
“Has he been doing drugs?”  
  
“Dunno boss… looks like he’s a heavy drinker.”   
  
“He looks pretty sober to me…”   
  
“Maybe he’s just an idiot.”  
  
“Baka.” The taller of the fells strides forward, entering Stretch’s personal space, and sniffs him. “Doesn’t smell like dust.”  
  
“You coulda just checked his stats boss…”  
  
“Smells sweet.”   
  
Stretch shies away, feeling as awkward as the sans copy did earlier. But he can’t rule out that this is some sort of greeting. He scratches the back of his skull and mumbles a small “Th..thankyou?” He didn’t think he smelled ‘sweet’ he sniffs the back of his palm to test this himself. Usually his little bro would tell him he stunk and to put his hoodie in the wash. Now, he smelled the grease of motor engine oil on his palms. Dirt from crawling through the snow. Breakfast waffles and honey…  
  
His copy scowls at him, a nasty look that Stretch can’t quite place. It looked like disgust? Or maybe anger? … Maybe his copy had to poop.   
  
But after a long moment the copy gingerly extends his own hand for a greeting. “I’m Papyrus, you’ll refer to me as Boss. And I’ll refer to you as scum. Got it?”  
  
“Sure. yup yup.” Stretch grabbed his hand and shook with all his strength, rattling his counterparts bones. Boss yanked back his hand in surprise.   
  
“..good.” Boss snarled. “How long is your… research… going to take you - Scum?”  
  
Stretch smiled widely, he still can’t wrap his mind around seeing the brothers. It fills him with an excitement just seeing their small interactions. The small way this Sans shifts from toe to toe, and nimbly hides behind his brother. The way this Papyrus grits his teeth like an animal, yet stands angled to flee rather than fight. After years of research he’s finally made the first steps to a new universe. Just breathing this air was exciting!  
  
“It will only take me a few hours!” Stretch promises, his hands make a small swear over his heart, though it’s only a moment later he recognizes the confusion on their face, not knowing the gesture. “Promise!” Stretch reaffirms. “Beside I have to get home to my bro before dinner~ or he’ll scold me again, Nyeh heh heh.”  
  
“Ugh… Boss. I told you his laugh was creepy.”   
  
“Indeed. Perhaps he’s not a fighter… but he is a hentai.”  
  
“You can tell that based on a laugh?  
  
“All the perverts do normal stuff in a weird way. You know… ? ‘Rero-rero-rero’, ‘shi shi shi,’ ‘Oh-ho ho ho!’, and my favorite ‘AHA HA HA HA!!!’ ”  
  
“It's more creepy you can imitate those…”  
  
Stretch stands in place and looks around the shed again, the brothers have yet again excluded him from their conversation. Now they were just talking to each other. Not that it wasn’t interesting… but Stretch wanted to document some more of the world- outside this shed. The technology in this world was so old, judging by the phones. It would be interesting to see how their core is processing energy… if it does at all.   
  
“So whose this tiny blueberry? Is that supposed to be your worlds Sans? Pathetic. He’d probably piss himself in a fight.” The brothers are poking at his wallet now. Stretch swells up with pride now, a conversation he can join and one about his precious bro~  
  
“Yus,” Stretch looks down at the photos. “That’s my little bro Sans. He’s going to be thirteen this year!”  
  
“... Tiny.”   
“You used to be that tiny too, Boss.”   
“I was never tiny… you used to be tall.”  
“Heh… you used to smile like that too.”   
  
They stand back and Fell coughs into his red gloves and thrusts his pelvis out, arms on either side of his hip. It looks almost heroic, especially with his dainty cape. “Very well, fellow Papyrus. You are welcome to investigate as you like~but you will not wander off on your own. It seems as if your universe is too precious to know how to properly defend yourself… so I- the GREAT and BETTER Papyrus will protect you while you write your documentary!”  
  
“And I… the far better Sans … will be sleeping on the sofa.”   
  
“OH NO~! Not today you lazy bones!” Fell exclaims. “We have a guest!!”   
  
“More like intruder…”  
  
“GUEST! And he’s me~ and he’s your brother~ We’re AlrEADy NAKAMA ~!!!”  
  
“......kay.”   
  
Stretch couldn’t help but grin. The two pretty much accepted him easily. Now that they were already on board, this was going to be fun. They left the shed and let him into their house. It was a lot different than he thought.   
  
The kitchen was huge, with center islands, double ovens, a huge fridge, and sixteen different types of appliances. It looked like a set from a cooking television show. And speaking of which… there was no Tv.   
  
Sans explained they had reverse engineered a lot of stuff that was broken in the dump but often the royal scientist - apparently Alphys- was breaking more than building and her interests were turned towards weapons… not frivolous appliances. Sans proudly states he and Boss built their kitchen from scratch and learned how to tinker with enough broken machinery to make their own blenders and pasta makers.   
  
The best technology was hidden away in the capitol. Security cameras and television was for the kings use only but Undyne and Boss would be able to visit Alphys’s lab and watch all sorts of animated documentaries. Perhaps, after hearing that Stretch was also making a documentary, that was why Boss was so welcoming.   
  
Stretch showed them his cellphone and how it worked.Explaining, sadly, there was no signal here to actually make a call but it could connect with anyone underground. It could also connect to the undernet… which he dumbed down and explained it as a giant recipe book they could use anytime.   
  
He took pictures with the bros. And of various body parts. - Asking Fell to take off his gloves so he could see his claws. After a bit of wrestling, the brothers came to a consensus to let the him see. Boss shied away, showing his damaged phalanges, sharpened to the point they were raw. Stretch visibly flinched, taking pictures of the damage anyway. He asked briefly why they didn’t heal the damage, but Boss waved it away and said it would heal on its own in a couple more months.   
  
That prompted the discussion of healing magic. Sans had used it earlier on him, but apparently it couldn’t heal do more than heal a monsters status. Down here, in their underground, monsters had too high lv to be able to heal more than their status. And… after Boss sheepishly allowed it… Stretch was able to check his status to see it was at full health.. Despite the damaged fingers.   
  
He offered to try and heal, much to the annoyance of the other two monsters. For all his stories, healing seemed to be the one thing they couldn’t believe was possible. Teleporting? Sure- why not~ but actual healing magic was apparently witch craft!   
  
Stretch eased a breath and drew the magic to his fingertips, holding Edges palms in his hands. The glow spread from between them, an eerie green color filling the room. Sans makes a comment of awe, seeing how fast he was able to use it. He mumbles something about it taking him hours to heal a little damage… which was probably why Stretch’s skull still rattled.   
  
The glow only persists for a couple minutes, making boss flinch in sharp pain as his fingers started to rebuild bone and callous. Apparently they were sensitive to touch… the gloves only padded the pain. Stretch heals them halfway, just enough for the sensation to be less than raw and he shows Boss his hands. Still sharp - the way he wanted before he disfigured himself- but with the wounds and brittle cracks healed.   
  
“Amazing.” He breathes. He flexes his fingers. Pressing his index fingers against each other, as if it were foreign for that not to elicit an immediate sensation of pain. Whatever reservations Boss had for him were melted away. He even offered a mumbled “Thank you...Scum.” Under his breath. To which Sans and Stretch beamed happily to see the skeleton without pain.   
  
Stretch was toured around their bedrooms, finding Boss’ plain room in striking contrast to Sans’ messy fort of trash. The brothers both slept on mattresses dug from the trash and dropped to the floor. Boss had enough sense to dress up his bed and put it on a plaque of wood but Sans couldn’t even be bothered to put a sheet on in it.   
  
Boss’ let him play dress up in his closet. Happy to have someone as stunning as himself in his wardrobe. Sans took pictures of the two side by side, wearing the same bad to the bone tshirt. But it wasn’t all just for fun. They had to make this monster look fearsome if they were going to walk outside.   
  
Stretch wasn’t really prepared for what they were telling him about their world. He thought Boss was being paranoid when he nearly struck him. But finding out most of this world was kill first ask questions later, was unfathomable. Even more concerning was how most of it seemed common place to the brothers. Discussing lvls and dust were something the two scratched their head at and tried to break it down as if Stretch was a toddler. They knew enough at least to see that this copy and his blueberry of a brother were too innocent for this world.   
  
“But why do you fight and kill?”  
“For lvls?”  
“But why?”  
“... to get stronger?”  
“And then?”  
“We’ll have more lvls.”   
  
It was like talking to a wall and honestly exposed a few questions the Fell brothers had never thought to ask. Why were they gaining levels? What was the point of being the strongest? Eventually Boss finds a bit of truth. “Whoever is the strongest gets to be king.” He hums. “No one has beat King Asgore yet… but if they could they would get the throne.” And in turn Sans has his own ideas about being strong. “It helps protect stuff you have. Like… if your strong. No one will mess with you.”   
  
“Right right!” Fell joins in. “Thats why Sans is my property! So he can be protected!”  
“Yup.”   
  
But their way to explain things still had Stretch puzzled. Something so normal to them had Stretch asking a 101 more questions. But he saved them on the edge of his tongue, wanting to go outside instead of cooped up in the house.   
  
Boss and Sans walked him through Snowdin, pointing out landmarks like Grillby’s bar where Muffets diner should have been. They met with scary looking residents that looked like they came from a rock concert, wearing spikes and leather and often masks that everything but their eyes. Discreetly, Stretch took photos of a bunny woman with spikes on her shoulders that were taller than her head. Her fur died black and red and her ears hooped and braided towards the back of her head with a skull pin.   
  
They didn’t go inside any shop or business. Boss explained he didn’t want to deal with Grillby and Sans said small places were no good, the main road was better for fast escapes. Stretch didn’t quite get it, until he saw the mangled corpse of a dog guard lying in a snow poff. Its armor and clothing was twisted and torn. Blood seeped into the snow, quickly melting it. The dog was half dead. - dusting while alive and whimpering for mercy. A mercy that Boss quickly granted. The bone construct whizzing through the pups head. Last words were breathed an echo of ‘sank yuh’ before the pup spackled the ground with dust.   
  
Stretch gulped dryly… unable to comprehend the murder that just occured. Sans grabbed the phone from his hands and took a picture in his stead, used to the pattern of taking pictures of odd and new things to the monster. Judging by his slack jaw, beaded sweat and wordlessness, Sans guessed this was a new experience as any.   
  
Stretch puked right there. Boss and Sans tried to console him, but the soft words of ‘its okay, pal’ and ‘man up.’ weren’t helpful. Especially with Boss patting his back with the same bloodied hands.   
  
Sans kept to himself, hands stuffed in pockets. The only thing he could offer were small apologies and puns that Stretch couldn’t appreciate. They decided to cut their trip short and head back to the house.   
  
Stretch took a quick shower to rinse off and wash his face, apologizing for ruining Boss’s clothes, but the skeleton didn’t mind. He loaned him another pair, simply a black long sleeved tee and pajama bottoms. Boss apologized too, in his own way, by making sets of tea and coffee and hot co co for Stretch as soon as he got back downstairs. Not quite sure of which drink would be appropriate.   
  
Stretch’s questions seemed to die then. He didn’t ask why ‘mercy’ was twisted to murder in this world. He didn’t even have interest in exploring anymore. This place was kind of fucked up… and despite the excitement he once had for the world it was quickly sapped away by the harsh reality of seeing an execution in the street.   
  
The Fell brothers also taking a note to avoid any odd topics. Apparently, disgusted with them and their lifestyle. Stretch announced he wanted to go home. It was honestly disappointing now that the brothers had bonded with the stranger over the last few hours, but Stretch said he would only stay a few hours anyway. Their time for fun was long past.   
  
“Oh wait! Before you go!” Sans seemed to jump up, despite being mostly to himself the past couple hours he had gotten to talk with Stretch enough to know the other was a bit of a dork. Honestly anyone could assume that from their conversations… but it was nice meeting someone sharing a few of his interests. Sans ran upstairs and came back down with a textbook on mechanical engineering. “This one is really good. You should… uh.. Read it when you get back to your world, kay?”   
  
“Wowie… thank you Sans.” Stretch took in the awe of the dirty worn pages, the book had been loved that was clear. “Are you sure I can have this?”   
  
“Of course!” Sans nodded his head enthusiastically, Stretch’s body language and joy was somehow infectious. “I’ve read it enough times…. You’d really enjoy it.”   
  
Boss stood up too. “If we’re giving gifts then wait here! I have a complete season of Doki Doki Literature Club! I can’t watch it… so you should enjoy the series - for both of us!” Boss too heads upstairs jumping in joy. In his absence Sans feels the need to remark about that.   
  
“Sorry about… what you saw pal. Things like that are just… normal here. But.. I’m really glad you came. It's been a long time since I saw Boss smile like that.Usually, he’ll drown himself in animay and mangos when he’s sad. Helps him to cope with the shit here. Like… even the greatest heroes have to struggle. It's hard to be a big bro… I really don’t know how to cheer him up. So … seeing you all happy and shit, I think it helped him a bit.”  
  
That may have been the most honest and heartfelt thing Sans has said all day to him. Stretch almost teared up, going in for a hug. “NO HuGs!” Sans jumped backwards. “ I mean.. No… thanks bud. Um… I’m okay. Really. Sorry. I - uh..”   
  
Stretch nodded and crossed his arms to hug himself instead, understanding a bit. He remembered how sweaty Sans was in the shed just from holding hands. He never really asked about that… it just seemed personal on a level outside of different universes.   
  
Boss comes running down with a stack of unopened dvds. It's sad really. They’re in such good condition but the monster only rarely gets to watch films at someone else's house. In a way, he’s giving up part of his happiness to share with Stretch. Stretch gingerly smiles and thanks Boss for the gift. He couldn’t refuse him after what Sans had said.   
  
“Okay… Thank you both for having me.” Stretch says kindly. He really did enjoy the trip… up until a little while ago. “Um…would it be possible for you two to walk me out? I’m not all that…” he drones away. His confidence in this world has faded.   
  
“Walk out where?” Boss chirps. “Do you have a spaceship!?”   
  
“Nyeh heh- sort of.” Stretch laughs. “I came in from the machine in your basement.”   
  
Suddenly the smile on Boss’ face falls. Sans’ eyes hollow. It doesn't take a genious to read their body language. Stretch leans in and wonders what the dour mood is for. Before he can even ask Sans already answers.   
  
“Thats… Gasters machine.”  
“We don’t go down there since the-” Boss’s words fall short but his brother fills in for him.   
“..accident…. The doc died in that machine. Your not… going back that way …. Are you?”  
  
“I have to!” Stretch says triumphantly. “Its perfectly safe!... I’ve made the adjustments myself, and as you can see.. I’m in one piece Nyeh hehe-”  
  
“You’ll die.” Sans buts in. “That machine won't ever work…”  
  
“What…. Do you ...mean?” Stretch pauses, becoming just as dour as the two in the room. Silently, Sans gets up and puts on his shoes. Boss follows, velcrowing his boots and grabbing a coat to slink around Stretch’s shoulders. They head outside wordlessly, leaving the front door open for Stretch to follow. It lets in a cold draft, now that the artificial sun has set, the cold winds have picked up and night has descended on the underground. Stretch follows briskly, closing their door for them and stomping out into the snow behind the house.   
  
Sans jiggles the handle and opens the door to the basement. A small set of stairs creak and whine as the group moves down and Sans flicks the light on the wall. Showing a room in disarray, dust bunnies and cobwebs among stacked cardboard boxes.   
  
This was the same storage room Stretch arrived in, but in the new light he was able to see the machine in its full glory. Parts scattered around the floor, wires sticking out of slots and the hull stripped to a few bolts and sheets of metal. Some parts lie melted and welded into one another. Char stains of fire and plumes of smoke mark the ceiling and wall it sits on. Bits of shrapnel have been scattered and shot out in the surrounding walls. All that remains is a red velvet chair, speared through with an antenna like rod. Dust lines the cushions, not the same dust everythign else has, from years untouched. This was monster dust, ashen and scattered like sand on a beach...   
  
“You came in this way?” Sans mumbled. “That machine wont even come online if we plug it into the generator. It exploded when the doc tested it.”  
  
Stretch isn’t even sure where he would start with repairing this thing. The circuit boards alone looked like they were some toddlers art project, glued together with macaroni pieces and glass shards. The hull of the machine was hollow, like a skeletons ribs. A piece from it hung precariously from its edge, splintered but not yet heavy enough to break off the from the main body. The metal was rusted… and looked like a deathtrap.Stretch didn’t normally do this… but just this once, he utters the frustration and hopelessness of his situation into one word.   
  
“Fuck.”   
  
He was stuck here. 

  



	2. Chapter 2

There was no possible way this was the same machine he arrived in. Was it? The hunk of metal before him was beyond a piece of junk… Junk was something you could tinker with and reassemble - but this monstrosity of a machine looked completely unsalvageable. He didn’t even know where to begin reconstructing this. Parts of it looked mutilated and melted into one another. 

With the situation seemingly hopeless, Stretch collapses to his knees. 

A comforting pat hits his shoulder. The hard slap is punctuated by Boss trying to console him in what little way he can. Red, on the other hand, sits down on the ground with small comforting words. “If it worked to get you here… it must be operational still. I’m sure of it!” 

Yeah. Ha. Stretch wished that was the case. It was more likely the machine from his world had teleported him here on a one-way journey. He must have narrowly missed that spike in the chair when he first came. This metal deathtrap hadn’t been active for a very very long time. 

Making it home in time for dinner? Impossible.   
Making it home at all?

… Who knew? He might be stuck here forever. 

He felt helpless.

The Fell brothers were trying to be comforting in their own way, but right now Stretch didn’t need to hear sugar-coated words. Their silence and company were far more impactful than any of his friends saying it would be alright. 

His eyes zig-zagged around the wreckage, looking at his footsteps from when he first arrived here- stomped into a layer of dust. Abandoned for decades… rusted… broken. Stretch hissed in a deep breath. This couldn’t be it. Maybe it was just a crude external appearance. Maybe the insides were still operational?!

“Hey… this doesn’t look too bad.” Red seized a piece of the metal hull and accidentally ripped it off its bolts, falling apart easily. The wires here were splintered and melted onto other components. The chips had burnt out. Red slides out one of the multiple battery units, finding lithium has exploded from its seams. The white chalky remains rusted the connections. “It’s uh- still usable. We’ll have to replace a couple of these boards… I have a soldering iron upstairs.” It’s an out of place thing to say when Red is holding the corpse of his hopes to ever return home.

Stretch bites his tongue. They’d be better off rebuilding this from scratch… and even then there would be no guarantee it wouldn’t spear him against the chair too. He looks at the iron 2 by 4 that pierces the driver's seat … the pile of dust beneath it. That could easily be his dust if they failed to put this death trap together again. 

“Shit.” He curses again, a culmination of anger and desolation. 

Boss isn’t familiar with the tech at all, but he points at the chair and chimes in with his own verision of helpful comments. “I can saw through that pipe...and uh. We can use a desk chair to replace that one. Grays a better color anyhow.” 

He pats Stretch’s back, following Red’s example of this false positivity. His brother couldn’t offer these small touches of comfort, so it was up to him to fill in that place. “We can rebuild this- right brother?” 

“Right boss!” The Fells lied behind him, and all Stretch could do was nod along. They were trying their best to encourage him, so he tried not to openly bawl in the room. It twists up his gut to know they were lying so he wouldn't feel bad. He knows better than to believe it to be true but nods along anyhow. Absently staring at his transport home as though it was a long-dead friend. 

There was nothing he could do but pick up the scraps… but right now he just didn’t feel like moving from his spot. Somehow, time and the brothers moved around him without his noticing. Red brought some books downstairs and tools. He began to clear out space for them to sit. Fell had brought a broom and swept up a bit before leaving. He was out of his element with this tech stuff, but he could still be useful by cooking. He came back around later to offer the two some dinner. Or -as he triumphantly put it- ‘to refuel the brain muscle goo!’ Funny. Stretch would probably tease him about his lack of understanding if he felt a little better. Right now he can't even muster up a chuckle. 

The cold plate was on his lap still by the time Stretch snapped out of his stupor. Red was asleep on the floor tangled in some wires and Boss was trying to decipher wingdings at the desk. 

They were still here? 

Slowly Stretch came to collect himself, pushing up from the floor where his legs felt numb from sitting. The clatter of dishes fell from where he rose up and lasagna plopped down onto the floor with a wet splat. 

The sound was enough to notify Fell of his alternates movement. The sudden rising of his twin as he finally pulled himself together from his defeated sunken seat on the floor. Fell twisted around, lowering his reading glasses to see how the other skeleton was doing. 

“...hey.” He said simply. Cautiously. Unsure how to greet someone who had been practically comatose for the better part of an afternoon. Stretch’s usual cheerfulness, compared to the dour and hopeless monster now- were two different people. And to be honest, Fell wasn’t sure if the monster would snap. He sets himself on guard, even knowing that Stretch isn’t much of a threat. 

Stretch says nothing. Awaking from his trance he kind of shambles about the office space and collapses to his knees again, even closer to the machine than last time. But instead of the defeated sagged pose he spent the last four hours in, he began to pull apart a length of wire sticking out from the machine. Trying to do something other than give up. He couldn't be the only one here being a useless sack of bones. The brothers were trying so hard to assemble something they knew nothing about. Stretch had to shake himself out of this spell and help. He thought of his little bro. He had to see his brother again. He had too! And soon!

He swept up loose shards of glass with his bare hands and pushed aside spare parts and loose gears and - fuck it was hopeless wasn't it?! He suddenly slammed his fists against the metal paneling. Frustrated. Like a toddler having a tantrum, another outcry of sorrow passed through him and he had no idea how to direct it. How could he get home like this!!! What would happen to his brother? Or him?! Would he die here?! He banged the machine again and again until he felt someone’s hands pull at his own. 

“Come on bud, let's get you to bed…” That soft and understanding tone, belonging to his twin, pulled him away from the machine and walked him back inside the house, set him up a place on the sofa and gave him blankets and a pillow to settle in. As soon as he was cocooned in those excess comforters Stretch closed his eyes and fell deep, deep, asleep. Tired out from new events, and crying for so long… 

It left Sans and Boss with a few miserable feelings too. 

“...I think we should let him stay here.”   
“Well of course! He’s too soft to be left alone.”  
“Heh, it's pretty rare of ya to agree with me, boss.”   
“Well… you're not being a little lazy shit. That's all. Besides. I saw the way you were tinkering with that machine. You… uh… glowed.”   
“Glowed?”  
“You had that smile. The same when the doc was around. Tinkering with old junk. You like that crap don't you?”  
“Yeah… miss it. A bit. It was… um… nice of you to help. I liked teaming up with you Boss.”   
“Even though I dont understand most of your science nonsense?”  
“Yeah, I mean. You're helping me here and there… thanks.”   
“... your welcome.”   
“Your dinner was good too. Superb.”   
“Really?”  
“Yeah.”  
“You never really pay attention to it before.”   
“... new spices right?”  
“Yeah”  
“Yeah.”

The brothers smile at each other oddly. When was the last time they had such a pathetic casual chat? Not about work or death… or laundry… just… enjoying each others company? Being brothers? … it felt really … nice. And extremely weird.

“...welp enough of this sentimental crap. Night boss.”   
“Night dumbass.”   
“Heh”

They share a laugh and go back to their rooms to sleep away the night. But that didn’t mean everything was quiet in the house.


	3. Chapter 3

Maybe it was the relentless guilt in the back of his mind, reminding him that his little brother is all alone and wondering where his big brother was at this hour. Or maybe it was the pile of depression that sagged through his shoulder blades and rattled his skull. But regardless of a reason why Stretch couldn’t seem to stay asleep. 

His chest ached as he started to accept being stuck here. That sinking feeling of never returning home and dealing with that broken machine kept him waking up wide-eyed in the middle of the night- staring at the ceiling in absolute horror. All he could do today was collapse to his knees. He wanted to cry. He wanted to break down and throw a tantrum like a child… but he was beyond that. More than any words could describe, the weight of being an adult sunk through his core. He was completely paralyzed when faced with that rotten machine. 

The memory of his paralyzation embarrasses him. It keeps him up all night with the nagging sense he could have been more use. The Fell brothers were trying so hard to cheer him up too… but faced with the cold hard fact he may never return home… 

No!

He will return home! He had to see his brother! 

Even if it all seemed hopeless- Even if it all seemed pointless- all he had to do was rebuild that machine and everything would be okay again, right? He built it once, he could do it again! … somehow. 

He threw the blanket off the sofa and cast a look back at the brothers closed bedroom doors. They wouldn’t be around to help him navigate his way outside… but at this point, Stretch had a better grasp on the space around the house. He knew exactly where to teleport when he blipped into the basement space. Though it was dark, he was familiar with the placement of the lighting and his orange eye lit up the way until he could find it. 

He plugged in the machine and began tinkering with it. Most of the glass was cleared away. And Red had done his part to find spare parts. Some tools laid about on the table, easy for him to access without having to pull open every drawer and search every crevice for a single flathead. He was grateful the Fells had somewhat made a dent in the project. He’d have to thank them. 

He began to rearrange the insides of the metal contraption, but he couldn't tell what else needed to be done without further testing. Against his better judgment, he had to test the machine.

He stood a good yard away from the control panel and hit the main button with his foot. It jumped to life with a spark and as if dancing to the same tune, Stretch jumped back to avoid any shrapnel. 

None? 

Good. So far test one was a success. Stretch nervously came back to the panel to try to read the display, seeing nothing on the black screen. It couldn’t even run it's own diagnostic. He was starting from scratch… hell. 

He spent the next couple hours test running the machine. Turning it on and off to tweak each piece into place and test its calibration before going onto the next. He tired himself out and eventually wanted nothing more than to collapse into the sofa and go to sleep again. 

He ported inside the house silently. He gave a quick look around to make sure Fell and Red were still sleeping. Then. With exhaustion ebbing at his bones and his conscience clear of the guilt, he gave in to a much-needed rest. 

Completely unaware that the machine in the basement hummed with an ominous roar, left online to sap up the rest of the power from the house. In the middle of the night, the machine fried the powerlines- and soon all of Snowdin.

Without power, the night became just a little colder for the skeletons. Their toes bundled in soft linens, became chilled. They tossed in the night, but remained undisturbed as power was sucked from the next city over in Waterfall… then Hotland… and the Core. 

Stretch woke up with a loud banging on the front door. With a groan, he wondered if Fell would get it. It was easier for him to roll over and ignore it even though he was the closest to the source. He just nuzzled his head deeper in the sofa cushions and willed the sound to go away. He'd just gone to sleep an hour ago and his head still rattled with a headache. The knocking continued and despite his best pretending, he couldn't avoid it. 

He got up with a sigh, staring at the stairway banister where the brother's doors remained closed. It didn’t look like they would get up to answer their door. So Stretch had to improvise. He grabbed the scarf from the coat rack and the leather jacket, easily sliding it snugly over his shoulders. Then he put on his serious face and answered the front door for whoever it might be. Instead, he got a surprise when a warrant was pressed into his face. The paper was the last thing he had expected. … but then again. It seemed pretty passive. The sharp yellow scaled claw revealed a bit of who the rude monster was.

“Alphys.” Stretch greeted the captain, trying to hold back his surprise when he saw the labcoat. Right, things were a bit different here. He raised a boney eyebrow, shooing the paper aside to face the short lizard woman. The scientist was accompanied by the guard no less. Three of the police dogs and Undyne. Stretch swallowed a lump in his throat. These were Fell’s pals in the guard… they were sure to see the difference if he wasn't careful. 

But as luck would have it, he heard the footsteps of a fellow menacing skeleton from behind him. Stretched closed the door slightly so just he was in view. Protecting Sans and his newest acquired twin who was idly standing by the door. 

“What seems to be the issue?” Fell whispered. And Stretch said it loudly in the mimicked arrogant tone. 

“A power surge from your house,” Alphys growled. “It sapped the power from here all the way to the core.” Fell tsked his teeth together. He should have known his brother would leave the job half incomplete. Sans never cleaned up after his messes. Of course, the machine would have been running after the small calibrations made yesterday. He should have made sure he unplugged it when they walked away. “Whatever device did this came from your house. I have a search warrant.” 

Fell growled. He pushed Stretch out the way and resumed his place at the front door, despite the few guardsmen in the front row who saw the exchange. The magic trick seems to confuse the lesser dogs- while the more intelligent species have a questioning jaw half hung open. About to ask something they know for sure can't possibly be true. Undyne furrows her brow, about to ask if there were two of him but quickly decides not to ask dumb questions. 

“Yes, yes. I’ll deal with the problem and terminate it.” Fell smashed his fists together like the machine was some sort of vermin. “If that's all doctor-” 

Alphys, who has gotten a first seat row, wastes no time in pushing the door open against Fell just to peer in and catch a glance at the copy. “Who’s with you?” Fell promptly closes the door on her and stands outside with the guard to explain the situation while Stretch is recovering from being shoved to the floor. 

He hears their conversation crisply through the thin walls of the house. This must have been how Red heard him earlier when he was trying to convince him to open the door. 

“What? Do you want to send me a bill? Fuck you.” 

“No. King Asgore demands we search and seize… whatever did this. I assume it's something Gaster made. It's high time we retrieve what is rightfully royal property.” 

Fell was seriously taken back. He expected trouble but… the king claiming his property? “What for?”

“It seems something generated enough power to cancel the core’s production. Something like that… could generate enough power to make the underground run for years. I want it.” Alphys bares her fangs. The evil doctor was getting greedy now, Stretch growled in his throat, further personifying the edgy copy. Luckily for him, the real Fell says something eloquent and witty and far less animalistic. 

Alphys speaks of how a device with such power could easily fuel the underground for years. She talks about how the core’s main processing generator was completely melted with the surge and how the king wanted to seize a weapon -er - technology that could opossibly help.

Stretch crawls to the next window over and takes a peek through the bottom square of the glass pane. Undyne is staring back at him- fully alert. Their eyes lock. Stretch immediately drops the curtain and cowers back inside.

Did he fuck up? 

If the residents knew about him here, was he in danger? The mangled corpse of a dog they saw earlier was part of the royal guard. Were there heathens who even threatened the king's soldiers? Was nothing safe? Maybe he shouldn't have answered the door. This felt like his mistakes were piling on him worse and worse by the second. 

Fell comes back inside, takes one look at him, and demands the skeleton return the stolen scarf before he wrinkles it. Stretch obliges, asking about the situation outside. 

“They want the machine,” Fell tells him.

“....” Stretch tilts his head… “heh…. But you're not going to let them have it? Right?” 

“Why not?”

Stretch pales. “That's my only way home!!!” 

Fell rubs the sleep from his eyes. He still has n scrust on the brim of his eyesockets and he could use a couple more hours of sleep before this bitch started yelling. Then again, he was a bit glad his twin was feeling more energetic than the sad sport they saw before. He places a heavy flat palm on Stretch’s shoulder. “It's fine, it's fine.” He calmly pats Stretch repetitively- as if the other were an oversized cat that was jumpy. “We’ll just move you to the capital.” 

“Wha?!-” Stretch cast a look at the door leading outside. His stomach still didn’t sit well with murder world- and that stare Undyne gave him felt like she was piercing into his soul. Far from the friendly smile he’d gotten from the shy nerd in his world. The Undyne here was on a hunt for blood. He could practically sense the bloodlust. 

“Don't worry. Sans will be with you.” Fell yawned. "Alphys wants to meet you too." He moves to the kitchen to make his coffee, not giving Stretch enough time to argue a counterpoint. He had no choice but to agree to this makeshift new plan.


	4. Chapter 4

When Stretch was making plans to hop across dimensions he had no clue what to expect. Traveling here was a whim he decided to take up. The machine that he’d been tinkering with for years suddenly had power… and a destination was locked onto it. What kind of person wouldn’t want to find out what was on the other end? It was wondrous and new. He didn’t even have time to pack a bag. He was just so overjoyed to have the machine finally working at 110% capacity that all common sense left his head. He wanted to explore! He was filled to the brim with excitement! So the only thing record he would have of his other world was his cellphone…  
  
... and now the phone was dead. The battery was completely drained. Unfortunately, he was in an alternate universe where the greatest technology they used was still rotary phones. The idea of having a phone in the palm of one's hand was insanely advanced. So, of course, the first thing Alphys did was take apart his phone.  
  
Behind four blast shields, she maneuvered a long pair of tweezers attached to a poorly made robotic arm. Component after component, she dissected his precious cellphone like it was some sort of nuclear weapon. The process was entirely slow. All Stretch could do was cringe in phantom pain as his cellphone was picked apart against his will. Despite his protesting, Alphys continued with her fascination and eventually he had to give up to her curiosity. The short scientist was surprisingly stronger than him… But hell, so was everyone else in this world with any decent scrap of lv to their name.  
  
She asked him to describe his world, not receiving much feedback when he amicably asked about hers in return. Gruesome questions regarding lv and death were silently ignored since Stretch didn’t want to bring up the topic with the scientist. She somehow seemed less trustworthy than his universal siblings. Besides, Stretch didn’t feel like he could nerd out with the scientist as he’d done with his own Undyne. Her scientific thrills were more stabby… dismantle everything until it's understood- kind of science. Resembling more of an engineer than someone interested in furthering the scientific community.  
  
He whined in his throat as the evil scientist had her way with his cellphone. He couldn't stop her, but Red probably could. If he cared, that is. Stretch gave a glance over at the skeleton, hoping this Sansy would scold her and tell her to treat others property with more respect of kindness…. But this Sans shrugged, keeping his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the ground. Red didn’t say much. His one job here was keeping an eye on Stretch and he was doing his best not to get distracted. He hadn’t been in Alphys’s lab in years and everywhere he looked there were new gadgets he wanted to mess around with. He was an adult in a toy store… playing coy and cool when he just wanted to explore with a desire to touch everything on the shelves.  
  
Yes, he had a duty to protect Stretch…. But Alphys wasn’ really a threat in his eyes and when was the last time he’d been able to get in this lab? Not since Gaster died right? Fuck… what did that do?! And that thing hanging from the ceiling? Ooh… that one looked sharp. If he started playing with those dials would he be thrown out? Alphys seemed to glare at him every time they locked eyes.  
  
The machine was delivered in the evening. A large forklift flung it clear past the door and into the main living room. It practically blocked the entry and scratched the floor. Metal nails clattered in circles as it was haphazardly dropped.  
  
Stretch twitched when the device was sloppily dropped. He hoped they didn’t break it. Well… at least not any more than it already was broken.  
  
Much like Stretch, who was excited to document every difference in this world, Alphys was curious about the new techs, though she was less caring for it. She dissected his precious phone, had the time and relative dimensions in space machine delivered by a moron, and had poked Stretch with so many needles his arm hurt. Her excitement was far less genuine and instead fueled by a desire to reproduce these irregularities.  
  
“Don't tell her about the healing thing you did.” Red clears his throat when she is gone to find another needle. “Or the teleportation powers. Ya know what…. Just don't tell her about your magic, pal.” Red sighs.  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Do you want her to start scraping your soul for samples?”  
  
Stretch made a whimper in his throat and shook his head violently. He hated doctors. At least she looked like she would help him with the machine. Another scientific hand on board really could help him get home sooner. And like that, a new ally was acquired. 


End file.
